Malicious applications are a common problem on all types of computing devices. Malware can range from viruses to adware to Trojans and can cause many types of damage to computing devices. Some types of malware display advertisements, while other types of malware link the computing device to a botnet. Some very common types of malware steal personal information from computing devices. Stolen information can cause damage to a user in a variety of ways. For example, stolen information may be used for identity theft or to withdraw money from financial accounts. To combat this problem, some computing devices limit the amount of information that any given application is able to view.
However, accessibility services on computing devices may not be limited in this way. Because accessibility services such as screen readers need access to all of the text on the screen, computing devices may allow accessibility services special permissions that are not available to other applications. This means that malware masquerading as accessibility services may have access to a large amount of personal information. Malware applications that are registered first in the list of accessibility services may be first in line to intercept events and may therefore pose the biggest threat. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for protecting computing devices from imposter accessibility services.